Toy golf club



March 19, 1957 G. F. c. BURKE 2,735,899

TOY GOLF CLUB Filed Dec. 4, 195s Georfge 1 0.316036%, by ffi zo m United States Patent TOY GOLF CLUB George F. C. Burke, Beverly, Mass., assignor of one-half to Marlon G. Cunningham, Calais, Maine Application December 4, 1953, Serial No. 396,258

1 Claim. (Cl. 27.3-87.2)

The object of this invention is to provide a toy golf club assembly which, handled in skillful fashion roughly comparable to the handling of a full sized club, will accurately impel an appropriately sized ball around a toy golf course or portion thereof in such manner as to realistically simulate actual golf conditions.

The club holder or impeller is adapted to receive any one of a graded series of quickly interchangeable clubs, ranging from a driving iron (which may double as a putter) with its face vertically disposed, to a niblick with its face well lofted for lifting the ball over hazards which may be closely adjacent to the then prevailing ball position.

The featured novelties of this toy are the quickly interchangeable clubs; the monopost construction, which by reason of its semi-spherical free end, must be carefully maintained in its exact vertical playing position by the operator, thus involving more playing skill than would be the case with a large flat bottomed pedestal type of toy designed to be self-aligning with the playing surface; the single hand manipulation which simultaneously eifects club swing, accurate directional alignment of swing in all planes, and precise control of ball impact intensity.

Greater detail of both operation and construction may be afforded by reference to the drawings in which Fig. 1 shows the invention in side elevation with the golf club in its position at the bottom of the arc of swing.

Fig. 2 is a plan view of Fig. l with the club in the position it would assume prior to hitting the ball.

Fig. 3 is a front elevation looking from the left of Fig. 1 with the club in the position of Fig. 2.

Fig. 4 is a perspective view of the club holding and actuating unit shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3 prior to its attachment to the monopost, and

Fig. 5 is a view of one of the detachable and interchangeable clubs used with the construction shown in Figs. 1, 2 and 3.

In Fig. l the monopost 20 functioning as a support has a rearwardly extending finger gripping portion 22 which enables the player to hold the post securely and to maintain it in whatever position he desires.

On the front of post 20 is a disc 24 which carries one of the removable and interchangeable clubs and also provides the means whereby the player may cause swinging movement of the club. Disc 24 is maintained in position on post 20 by a screw 26 with the washers 28 and 30 facilitating its movement.

The club holding means found in the lower part of the face of disc 24 consists of a slot 32 having a rear wardly sloping backwall 34, a horizontal slot 36 connecting with the upper end of slot 32 and a laterally extending hole 38 which leads to the left away from the back of slot 36.

The construction just described is adapted to support a golf club of the character shown in Fig. 5 which has a head 40, shaft.42 and upper end 44. With shaft 42 in horizontal position end 44 is inserted in slot 36 and when at the rear thereof is moved to the left so that end 44 enters the hole 38. As soon as shaft 42 becomes aligned with the slot 32, the shaft may be swung downwardly until it rests against the sloping surface 34. When in this position, it will be as shown in Figs. 1 and 3.

With the club thus secured in disc 24, it is apparent that the player may then position monopost 20 at a suitable place behind the ball which is to be struck, and while holding the finger gripping portion 22 with his thumb and first finger, he may cause rotation of disc 24 with his middle finger, thus swinging the club against the ball with the appropriate force and direction to drive the ball the intended distance.

In the invention herein disclosed, it is apparent that there has been provided a monopost incapable of selfsupport which may be placed by the player adjacent to the ball and then while holding the post, the club may be moved by the player to strike the ball in a direction and with a force directly under the control of the player.

It is my intention to cover all changes and modifications of the example of the invention herein chosen for purposes of the disclosure which do not constitute departures from the spirit and scope of the invention claimed.

I claim:

A toy golf club assembly comprising a single post having a rounded end adapted to be placed against a surface thereby to permit tilting of said post in any direction, the upper end of said post having a finger gripping element extending therefrom, a mounting for a miniature golf club pivotally secured to the front of said post and extending laterally of said post to a position whereby it may be engaged by one of the fingers of the user while other fingers are simultaneously engaging said finger gripping element, a miniature golf club removably carried by said mounting and extending downwardly from said mounting and angularly away from said post whereby upon rotation of said mounting by the user, the golf club head may be caused to swing through an arc.

References Cited in the file of this patent UNITED STATES PATENTS 1,173,818 Lins Feb. 29, 1916 1,561,178 McGrann Nov. 10, 1925 2,118,084 Heinzelmann May 24, 1938 2,222,499 Byrd Nov. 19, 1940 2,616,700 'Mnnro Nov. 4, 1952 2,638,348 Arenson et al. May 12, 1953 FOREIGN PATENTS 362,066 Great Britain Dec. 3, 1931 

